In this episode

covers her high risk pregnancy with her twin girls. Crystal tells us all about her harrowing journey through her pregnancy with blood clots, twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome, in-utero surgery, mono-mono twin risks, and her ultimate rise to author and patient advocate. Crystal feels her personal story has fueled her patient advocacy work, because no one knows you or your children's health better than you.

Twin to Twin: From High Risk Pregnancy to Happy Family was written while Crystal was raising preemie twins AND a toddler!

Crystal says, "I think I deserve a Pulitzer prize for having written a book with preemies that needed ongoing medical treatments as well as raising a toddler we were trying to potty train.”

WE TOTALLY AGREE, CRYSTAL!

She soon realized that if she wanted to write this book, she had to let go of multiple things - laundry, clutter, household stuff - which was all still going to be there after the book was finished. She maximized her time while the kids were sleeping and used weekends and late nights while writing. There were sacrifices, but Crystal says she felt amazing and proud she felt when the first shipment of her books arrived, and how happy and excited her kids were as well. The process of writing books is pretty removed from any physical product for most kids, but seeing the books in print really helped them understand what Crystal had accomplished.

Crystal is an Author Accelerator client and has listened to the #amwriting podcast with Jess and KJ, our co-podcasting nonfiction gurus. She went through the Blueprint program for her second book, and she's well into the process of writing book #2 with her coach. She assures Abby (and Mel) that writing a book IS (mostly!) easier the second time around! There are challenges from jumping genres from memoir to nonfiction and the process of weaving patient stories into research, but there are things you can do to make it easier.

1) Check in with yourself, and compile all your notes in one spot on a regular basis.

2) Outlining can be super useful for non-fiction. You still have to weave a tale, it's just with facts!

3) Writing your jacket cover, synopsis, and pitch beforehand can help you narrow your focus from an idea to a plan.

This final tip Crystal recommends to us from Damon Brown’s book Bring Your Worth (coming out in February – www.damonbrown.net and www.bringyourworth.com – try to focus on completing 3 work-related things per day. Whether that’s an important email, several pages on your book, or other important tasks, anything beyond that is a blessing because inevitably, several other things will come up that will need your attention.

Thanks for coming on the podcast, Crystal! Her book can be found on Amazon, Indiebound, Target, and wherever books are sold.